For the Love

It’s all about fighting for GRACE in a world of impossible standards. This is the message from Jen Hatmaker’s newest book For the Love.

I am new to the Jen Hatmaker scene. I discovered her this past winter when a friend shared the book Seven with me. I was immediately hooked to Jen’s insight and incredible sense of humor. I joined so many woman who love Jen’s writing, passion for God, and ability to make you laugh out loud.

One of my favorite chapters in Jen’s newest book is about the balance beam. Jen describes how her youngest daughter was struggling to walk across the balance beam in gymnastics. Jen then pointed out the hugely false lie that we have bought into as women that we need to do it all. Balance it all. Be the perfect wife, mom, and friend while having an amazing career, Pinterest perfect home, yard, hobbies, etc. With today’s social media, all we see are the perfect highlights of other women’s lives. We are busier than ever before yet feel like complete failures. We don’t measure up because the expectations of society or that we place on ourselves are entirely unrealistic. Absolutely no woman can do it all, balance it all, be perfect. We are not made to. In striving to do so, we miss the beauty of our daily lives.

Saying YES to what is life giving and saying NO to everything else helps us handle various changing seasons of our lives. When we try to say yes to everything, we will fall off the balance beam. One woman’s yes may be the next woman’s no. What you say yes or no to will change depending on the season you are in. There is such freedom in this message!

I remember seeing this with my roommates. A couple of my roommates loved cooking. This was life giving and a time they enjoyed after a long work day. For me, cooking is hard work and stressful. What is life giving to me is to go out for a good run and enjoy the beauty of nature. So in my life, I prioritize working out as more important than cooking. Thankfully God gave me a husband who can cook.

I realize that I can often put unrealistic expectations on myself. In the past two years of our marriage, my husband has helped me so much in letting go of these expectations. He is constantly telling me that I can’t do it all. This reminds me to choose what is best in that moment for that day. To let go of everything else. As I soon enter into a whole new season of life, motherhood and being a working mom, I need this powerful and freeing message.

It is all about grace. Receiving God’s grace. Extending that grace to myself and to others. Our little daughter will remind me of this truth each day through her name, Grace.